Cement and similar materials are made by providing one or more materials in a reduced size and then heating the one or more materials to define a product, which is commonly referred to in the art as ‘clinker.’ In the manufacture of clinker, the one or more materials may be heated in a rotary kiln to approximately 1400° C.-1450° C. by way of a flame within the rotary kiln that is fueled by a fuel source. The extreme temperature range of 1400° C.-1450° C. may be needed to meet the pyroprocessing level of the one or more materials to further refine/combine the one or more materials into a suitable clinker.
Recently, it has been estimated that about 2.5 billion tons of cement is made globally each year. As such, improvements are always sought in the manufacturing of clinker due to several monetary and environmental drawbacks that are inherent to the clinker manufacturing process. Some of the known drawbacks in the clinker manufacturing process may include the following: (1) the extreme temperatures needed to heat the one or more materials within the rotary kiln results in the need of a significant amount of fuel, (2) if, for example, the one or more materials in the clinker recipe include limestone (CaCO3), the production of clinker may result in the contribution to greenhouse gases due to the de-carbonation of the limestone during the pyroprocessing of the limestone, and (3) the burning of a fossil fuel to provide the flame within the rotary kiln may also result in the contribution of greenhouse gases.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved clinker recipe as well as a system and method for manufacturing clinker that is both monetarily efficient and environmentally friendly.